The Forgotten Beaches of Seven Seas Lagoon

Splashin' Ryan

Splashin' Ryan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I came across something interesting recently while looking around and couldn't find any answers on the web and wondered if any of you knew more about this:
It looks as if there were three beaches around the lagoon that slowly disappeared over the years and I'm wondering why exactly they did or if they were ever even accessible to guests. I vaguely remember seeing them on my 2010 trip but that's about all.
According to imagery, all of the beaches were left to rot somewhere around 2014-2015 with vegetation growing over them so if you were thinking the closure of other resort beaches due to the alligator attack in 2016 was to blame I can believe you can rule that out.
Here are the three locations with comparison imagery

*pictures are 2 messages below*

#1. West of MK Monorail station 2005 vs. 2016 vs. 2021 (completely covered with grass during the walkway expansion project)

#2 West of Contemporary 2002 vs. 2017 vs. 2021 (altered during the bus loop expansion project) Was this ever accesible?

#3 North of TTC 2002 vs. 2012 vs. 2021 ( was interestingly overgrown in early 2012, cleaned up entirely in later 2012 but has overgrown since) no construction or projects affected this beach area though so I'm not sure why they would let it go.
 
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MorphinePrince

MorphinePrince

Well-Known Member
Splashin' Ryan said:
I came across something interesting recently while looking around and couldn't find any answers on the web and wondered if any of you knew more about this:
It looks as if there were three beaches around the lagoon that slowly disappeared over the years and I'm wondering why exactly they did or if they were ever even accessible to guests. I vaguely remember seeing them on my 2010 trip but that's about all.
According to imagery, all of the beaches were left to rot somewhere around 2014-2015 with vegetation growing over them so if you were thinking the closure of other resort beaches due to the alligator attack in 2016 was to blame I can believe you can rule that out.
Here are the three locations with comparison imagery

#1. West of MK Monorail station 2005 vs. 2016 vs. 2021 (completely covered with grass during the walkway expansion project)
View attachment 570706View attachment 570707View attachment 570708
#2 West of Contemporary 2002 vs. 2017 vs. 2021 (altered during the bus loop expansion project) Was this ever accesible?
View attachment 570709View attachment 570710View attachment 570711
#3 North of TTC 2002 vs. 2012 vs. 2021 ( was interestingly overgrown in early 2012, cleaned up entirely in later 2012 but has overgrown since) no construction or projects affected this beach area though so I'm not sure why they would let it go.
View attachment 570712View attachment 570713View attachment 570714
Click to expand...
I don't have an answer to your question, but I did want to let you know that none of the attachments in your post are working :)
 
Splashin' Ryan

Splashin' Ryan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here are the pictures in order in case they are not loading correctly
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mysto

mysto

Well-Known Member
The poly beach has been covered with rocks, barbed wire, and bungalows. I swam there as a kid, it was nice. I remember seeing an osprey catch a fish along the beach on my final pre-bungalow trip. I really think of the poly as pre and post bungalow.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure about specific beaches but there was swimming allowed in the Seven Seas for quite a long time. Nature stayed away when there was a lot of activity on the lagoon, but as nature does, it reclaims its spaces and nature in the form of Gators and Ameba's found the place and locations and Disney slowly closed them down. After the attack and death of that child in 2016 then they got concerned big time. One of the problem was the wealthy geniuses that rented those new, out into the lagoon, cottages were feeding gators and others things so that made more nature show up. Heck, for a while originally there was even a wave machine pointed a the Polynesian. The equipment might even still be there under the water.
 
Ayla

Ayla

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
I'm not sure about specific beaches but there was swimming allowed in the Seven Seas for quite a long time. Nature stayed away when there was a lot of activity on the lagoon, but as nature does, it reclaims its spaces and nature in the form of Gators and Ameba's found the place and locations and Disney slowly closed them down. After the attack and death of that child in 2016 then they got concerned big time. One of the problem was the wealthy geniuses that rented those new, out into the lagoon, cottages were feeding gators and others things so that made more nature show up. Heck, for a while originally there was even a wave machine pointed a the Polynesian. The equipment might even still be there under the water.
Click to expand...
It is. You can still see it if you know where to look.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Robbiem said:
I think the beach by the MK monorail station was built for a water skiing show in the early days of the resort


I guess the beaches were either part of planned resorts facilities or just part of the landscaping
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Probably a bit of both. From my understanding, all of that sugar sand was what was excavated to form the 7 Seas Lagoon. Putting it on the shore provided an attractive landscape and gave them a place to put most if not all of what they excavated so...two birds.
 
Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
I remember swimming at the Fort Wilderness beach on Bay Lake in the 1980s (this was separate from River Country). As of when Google Earth last updated their images, the beach appears to be still there, but I assume swimming is no longer allowed. I won't pretend to know when and why they stopped allowing swimming on this beach.

I have maybe even more distant memories of swimming on a Bay Lake beach at the Contemporary in the late 70s, but it's possible I'm not remembering this correctly.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Papa M said:
Dawned on me that this was their habitat and there is little we can do to control wildlife in their environment. After that, I had no desire to enter any bodies of water that weren't man made, i.e. resort pools, BB & TL. The unfortunate event with young Jack at the GF should sour anyone on wanting to swim in natural bodies of water.
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Wildlife has a way of making its way even into man made pools. Friends of ours in FL had a pool and once he had found a gator had made its way into the pool, another time a snake. He had to call a local service that handles wildlife to catch and release them. So after that he was always scanning the pool for unwanted swimming guests before he jumped in.
 
M

Minnie Mum

Well-Known Member
JIMINYCR said:
Wildlife has a way of making its way even into man made pools. Friends of ours in FL had a pool and once he had found a gator had made its way into the pool, another time a snake. He had to call a local service that handles wildlife to catch and release them. So after that he was always scanning the pool for unwanted swimming guests before he jumped in.
Click to expand...
Indeed. When we lived in Alabama we had to check not only the pool, but the skimmer every time. I don't know how many times DH had to scoop out a snake - sometimes water mocassins- before getting in.

And I clearly remember watching CMs standing guard while waiting for the wildlife guys to remove a young alligator from the spillway at Splash Mountain. Wildlife will find a way if water is present.
 
John park hopper

John park hopper

Well-Known Member
We honey mooned at the Contemporary in 1977 at that time there was no internet and Disney published a Disney World News paper (still have the copy from then) It contained articles on entertainment, restaurants etc. It advertised miles of swimming beaches, water skiing, boat rentals, beaches were open to guest had chairs and white sand. Never a thought about alligators or even a warning sign. Alligator populations were way down in the 70's and with protection in the late 70's they are back up again where Fl once again has gator hunting.
 
Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
John park hopper said:
We honey mooned at the Contemporary in 1977 at that time there was no internet and Disney published a Disney World News paper (still have the copy from then) It contained articles on entertainment, restaurants etc. It advertised miles of swimming beaches, water skiing, boat rentals, beaches were open to guest had chairs and white sand. Never a thought about alligators or even a warning sign. Alligator populations were way down in the 70's and with protection in the late 70's they are back up again where Fl once again has gator hunting.
Click to expand...
So, help me with my memory on this detail, if you can. Was there swimming on Bay Lake at the Contemporary? I have a very vague memory of doing so as a child in the 1970s, but I'm not sure if this memory is real or not.
 

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